The struggle of the Ukrainian people did not just begin in February of 2022 but much earlier- as is abundantly clear in the pages of A Generation of Leaves; A Ukrainian Journey.

It is a coming-of-age story of a young man born in Western Ukraine in 1923, a now vanished rural landscape lovingly depicted in the memoirs of the late Ivan Kochan, son of a prominent Ukrainian politician and patriot. Often charming and sometimes frightening the story not only dramatizes Ivan's growth and development but the grim and violent chapter in Ukraine's struggle for freedom and independence.

Much of this tale is set against the flaming background of the Second World War and the dilemmas of being caught between two monstrous evils; the Nazi Fascists and the Russian Communists. The many narrow escapes vividly depicted here culminate in a flight from the Bolshevik Red Army. As was the case with so many Ukrainians this leads to relocation in Displacement Camps and ultimately lifelong exile in Canada and the United States.

Yet these memoirs are not just another war story, as extraordinary and unique as this one is; they chronicle the transition of a child into a man. At the same time emerging quietly is a powerful and very moving love story between Ivan and a beautiful young woman, one that will remain with the readers long after the last sentence is read.